Does anyone have experience w the Google Authenticator app. I can't make sense out of it, and it's dual sign-is seem redundant. Where can I learn how to use this thing, because it appears to have benefits, or is there some other app that protects my Google material?
Thank you.

When you sign up for two step verification for your online gmail account, you need the Google Authenticator on your mobile device. Then you log in on a computer to gmail using your username and password, and it will ask you for the security code which you must obtain from your phone with Google Authenticator. That way, it is more proof that it is really you that is signing in and not someone who stole your password. The two step verification process doesn't work for signing in on mobile devices (currently) so Google will generate a 16 character code that you must use to sign in to your gmail account (and other gmail services, like Picasa) from your phone.

Do you use GA, and do you like it?
It's just a necessary part of the two step verification. It's supposed to only require me to re-sign-in every 30 days on the same computer, but inititally each time I sign in on a different computer. Easy to use.
Coincidentally, at the same time I was setting up the two-step verification, Google was having problems with passwords related to Picasa, and I kept getting notices from Picasa to re-enter my password. I thought the problem was on my end and it was driving me nuts. I later saw a notice put out by the Picasa Tool app indicating the problem was on Google's end.
It doesn't appear that anyone hacked my gmail account, but I did get notices in the beginning of April that there was suspicious activity on my gmail account from an unknown IP address. I realized the serious implications if someone did gain access to my account and set up the two-step verification process. Although I can't imagine how someone could ever guess my complex password (and how anyone would be allowed enough attempts to try an infinite number of combinations), it's nice to know that if I ever got some malware on my computer that compromised my password, the two-step verification will still keep the account secure.

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